Mice
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: Don K
03-Aug-18
OK, getting the final plans together for my elk hunt this year and I have been told my numerous people that this unit is overrun with mice. One guy I talked to said they got into his engine compartment and chewed up his firewall on his new truck. Another guy said he left his tent up for a week while he left and came back to a chewed up sleeping bag and hole in his tent. Everyone I seemed to talk to said don't worry about snakes, worry about the mice....... ( This is a desert unit)
So, this is a basecamp hunt. Besides the usual keep your camp clean, hang up your stuff what other things have helped for you? I heard to park your truck tires on aluminum foil as the mice wont walk on that to climb on your tires. I looked at the bucket traps people make, and anything else people can add let me know. I really don't want to put any poison out as I don't want to cause other problems.
From: Shawn
03-Aug-18
Bring a cat? Shawn
From: bigmartbowhunter
03-Aug-18
We have had to deal with this a lot, I think its more like rats that get in your engine compartment. a couple friends had their wiring chewed up and their trucks had to be towed out, one thing that has worked well for us is always leave the hood up on your truck.
From: Stayfit
03-Aug-18
Glue traps and other mouse traps work well for keeping mice out of my Travel Trailer for several months during deer season. Same with keeping them out of the jeep. More is good and there is no bag limit.
From: Lv2hnt
03-Aug-18
Still hard to beat peanut butter and the tried 'n true Victor spring trap ...
From: wyobullshooter
03-Aug-18
Lv2hnt x 2.
From: ACC Elkhunter
03-Aug-18
Some areas are infested some not but I always check for nests if the truck has been idle for a few days had one on the engine last year in NM. I've seen pack rats jump straight up into the frame/engine area of a vehicle so the tinfoil your idea is out. Leave you hood cracked open to let light into the engine compartment, use a stick or something to keep it from closing they like dark places to build a nest. For the tent I've used peppermint oil saturated cotton balls around the perimeter but you need to replenish it every few days or they will still come in. Heard grated Irish spring soap sprinkled around the perimeter will keep them out but I haven't tried it. Had one chew a hole in my pack one night to get at a wilderness athlete bar so I hate them. good luck
From: nvgoat
03-Aug-18
Got into my car once. Built a nest by my timing belt. When I started the car it splattered the mouse all over engine compartment and knock the car out of time. After multiple phone calls I figured out the problem and re-timed it in the field. Checked later and was perfect. I hate the little bastards.
From: Darrell
03-Aug-18
This works! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PLO3a9QQQI
From: LKH
03-Aug-18
I take pieces of 1"x2" wood, about 18" long. Screw or glue 2 yellow pad mouse traps with the yellow pad towards each end. The I use a small block of wood to make a channel along side a tire, tent or cooler. Mice like to run close to things. I don't even bother baiting most of the time. This winter I caught about 50 near and against the house.
Caught 18 under my trailer in WY last Sept.
Put Tomcat blocks on top your engine when parking for a long time.
From: Tilzbow
03-Aug-18
I live in the desert at the edge of town and have dealt with pack rats and mice for the last 15 years. What I’ve found that works are dryer sheets, T-Rex traps baited with peanut butter and a pest preventer spray that I use on the under carriage of my travel trailer and other areas I don’t want them in. I can’t remember the name or brand of the spray though.
From: huntperch
03-Aug-18
Dryer sheets have worked well for in storing my campers.
From: Franklin
03-Aug-18
If you have non-resident plates don`t leave your hood up. The damage the locals could cause will make your mouse problem seem minor.
From: Don K
03-Aug-18
Keep it coming, some great insight here!!
At least I see there's no limit on them where I'm headed!
From: jordanathome
03-Aug-18
Toyota was using wiring insulation that mice LOVE for awhile. They chewed up some wires in my Prius.
Mothballs and dryer sheets seem to be a decent deterrent. You local farm store may have a product farmers use in their tractors....not sure what it is called anymore....but they detest the smell.
We have had moles and ground squirrels under our tent......fun whack a mole distraction some nights. Watch the floor move and WHACK 'em. Not sure if spraying pest deterrent from your hardware store around the tent outside would help or not.
Cat stuck in a tent could be as bad as a mouse...........
From: Grunt-N-Gobble
03-Aug-18
You guys using scented or unscented dryer sheets?
From: Bigdan
04-Aug-18
Go down to your local Cenex store and buy some of this put one on the floor inside you rig put another on your intake manifold if your in a tent put one under your coot and any were else you don't want mice or rats it comes in packets that looks like large t bags
From: BULELK1
04-Aug-18
I have always just sprinkled a box of Mothballs around my tent and had no trouble afterward.
Not sure what to do for a trucks engine compartment though?
Good luck, Robb
From: Jethro
04-Aug-18
Cut up an old tee shirt into pieces. Put a small handful of mothballs in the pieces and zip tie them closed into a little mothball sack. The hang them around the engine, concentrating around the firewall. We do this on our work trucks that have had mice getting in and chewing wires. Eventually for us the moth balls dissolve away, but they'll last longer than a normal hunt.
From: sir misalots
04-Aug-18
product called snake away granular like cat litter smells like moth balls sprinkle around tires The smell is pretty potent though
From: keepemsharp
04-Aug-18
A mechanic said that wire coatings used to be oil based now they are soy based so more attractive to rats.
From: BullBuster
04-Aug-18
If u leave your hood open be sure it doesn’t turn an engine compartment light on. Burned my battery once on my Ram.
From: midwest
04-Aug-18
I built a little wooden ramp with a razor blade sticking up at the end. I would set a piece of cheese at the end of the ramp. The mice would run up the ramp, look over the edge at the cheese and cut their head off. This way, I never had to re-bait.
Once, on a hunt, I forgot to bring some cheese so I attached a piece of saw blade in place of the razor blade. The mice would run up the ramp, look over the edge, and saw their head off as they looked back and forth for the cheese.
:-)
From: Topgun 30-06
04-Aug-18
Love ^^^ that one, LOL!
From: mmartinez
04-Aug-18
i had a problem in my barn with mice chewing on everything. i was told to use peppermint oil i put it in a spray bottle it keeps mice out of barn off of tack and away trom atvs
From: Backpack Hunter
04-Aug-18
In addition to the bucket trap, Sniff N Stop makes an anti chew spray that works well as a deterrent. It is supposed to last for a year under any conditions, but can't say I have gone that long before spraying again.
From: deserthunter
04-Aug-18
Freshcab x2
From: Lost Arra
04-Aug-18
Fresh Cab x3
From: Jaquomo
04-Aug-18
Good Lord, Jordan - a Prius? Is it still sporting the Hillary bumper sticker? Maybe the wiring was coated with some sort of vegetable-based substance instead of evil fossil-fuel plastic...
:-)
From: BK
04-Aug-18
I have yet to check this out, but I've been told that John Deere Implement dealerships sell some type of mouse repellent that farmers can put in and around their farm machinery while in storage during the winter months. I was told it was a repellent and not a poison. Might be worth checking it out.
From: Inshart
04-Aug-18
I've been using dryer sheets for years in my boat - stored outside covered. Prier to that the little buggers always chewed on everything in my boat.
From: Tonybear61
04-Aug-18
Still hard to beat peanut butter and the tried 'n true Victor spring trap ... Yeah those little buggers are in my dishwasher again. Corn also works, for the big game as well.
From: DMC65
04-Aug-18
Mothballs keep em out. I do e few whole house auto transfer generator installs each year and I drop a hand full of mothballs in the engine compartment. Keeps mice and yellow jackets away nicely. Last thing I want is mice and stinging critters building nests when I have to come back for engine maintenance.
From: jordanathome
04-Aug-18
HA Lou!....Bernie for Prius stickers......really? Shoulda had an Obama sticker since he gave me $4500 under cash for clunkers to trade in my 200k+ mile Mountaineer for the brand new 2010 Prius. My son drives it now. Hail beat the crap out of it in Louisville a month ago......fist sized deep dents and the rear window was destroyed. It has nearly 200K miles on it now and has been the best vehicle we ever owned for reliability. Has never failed us and cost us very little to maintain. I can't find the hail damage pics....she's a beauty now. LOL
From: Don K
05-Aug-18
OK, found the Fresh Cab on amazon, peppermint oil also. For those with the dryer sheets are you using any special scent or not?
From: Inshart
05-Aug-18
Not sure if it makes any difference - I use Bounce dryer sheets - and LOTS of them.
A few years ago we also used them all around the bottom of our tent - no mouse issues at all.
From: cnelk
05-Aug-18
Bring a BB gun :)
From: Don K
05-Aug-18
Bounce, will look them up.
Cnelk, funny I loaded one in the trailer this morning and need to order some BB's
From: LKH
05-Aug-18
LOL. If the mice are so thick you can shoot them with a BB gun I think i would avoid that area.
From: Franklin
05-Aug-18
Hate to break it to you Jordan but Pres. Ovomit didn`t give you chit....WE DID...that was OUR money, not his.
From: Rut Nut
06-Aug-18
Jordan- THANKS dude! I take some crap from time to time from my buddies who drive Chevy or Ford pickups....,,,,,,,,,,,....while I drive my “almost truck” Lezbaru Forester! Next time they give me &$%#, I will show them this thread and say: “well, at least it ain’t a PRIUS!!!!!! “ ;-)
